Skip to main content

El's Bells

After several uneventful days on her new elephant mask, Eleanor has continued having drops in her heart rate, which are now lasting longer and much more frequent and significant. She has also required slightly higher oxygen. This persuaded doctors yesterday to take a blood gas (check her CO2 levels), CVC (check her white count and hemoglobin), blood cultures (check for infection), and urine culture (further check for infection). 

They started her on an antibiotic just to be on the safe side. Her hemoglobin came back low and her white count was high (suggesting that she's fighting an infection). They gave her a blood transfusion and hooked her up with fluids after taking her off food for the day (NPO). Her cultures have since been negative and the white count in her urine was also acceptable. She even had a good blood gas. 

This brings us to today. She has had vastly more significant drops in her heart rate and prompted a code blue around 5pm. The medical team has since increased her pressure settings and her backup ventilator levels. They are still very perplexed as to why she continues to have such frequent and exuberant drops. She has still not had food and they will be repeating the blood gas this evening. 

Eleanor is very tired working hard to keep breathing. If she progresses down this slippery slope, she will have to be intubated once again and this would be a great leap backwards. 

We do request that she does not have any visitors at this time, but appreciate all of the love and prayers.

-Kim

Comments

  1. Oldgirl48March 4, 2019 at 4:46 PM

    Prayers up for baby Elle. Give Kim n Alex ❤

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grandma RoseMarch 4, 2019 at 5:36 PM

    Oh Kim, I am so sorry Eleanor is having such a hard time. I'm praying for her constantly. Praying God puts his healing hand upon her. Alex and Kim prayers for you both too. Love all 3 of you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SantaMedicalJuly 4, 2019 at 2:09 AM

    Normal blood oxygen levels in humans are considered 95–100 percent. If the level is below 90 percent, it is considered low resulting in hypoxemia. Blood oxygen levels below 80 percent may compromise organ function, such as the brain and heart, and should be promptly addressed. check your Pulse Oximeter

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Nine-Pound Peanut

It’s been a while since the last update! This is the start of (I believe) week 4 of Eleanor’s steroid regimen. The steroids are doing their job and Eleanor is weaning her support settings well. The little lady hit NINE POUNDS today and, as always, is looking adorable as all get-out in all her onesies and holiday-themed outfits and gigantic head bows. The past several visits have all been so rewarding. I got to hold my niece for the first time Friday afternoon! Her Grandpa Bob held her on Monday morning. Eleanor is alert (and looking like brown-eyed girl more and more every day!!), expressive (so fun seeing her responses), and it’s a whole different experience getting to hear her (helps, not having a tube down your throat, I’d reckon). Also want to note how amazing a four-day weekend probably was for Kim and Alex. A happy Memorial Day weekend it was, indeed. This weekend, Eleanor also got upgraded to a larger crib (more room for activities!) and is really set up in the toy dep...
3 comments
Read more

The Last Hurdle Before Home

My has the time flown (but at the same time crawled)! Eleanor is now 5 months old and this morning weighed in at 10lbs, 13oz! She officially is too big for newborn clothes as well as the tiny baby socks. She poops on her ensemble approximately once a day and still enjoys playing and being held. She is doing very well post-steroid regimen. Her last dose of the big guns was on Friday morning. She has since switched to hydrocortisone so that her adrenal gland knows to kick it back into gear and her body doesn’t go into a shock of sorts without the steroid boost. She will have to have an ACTH test in two weeks when she is finished with this round of steroids. ACTH is a hormone injected into the shoulder muscle. They draw blood before and after to measure how well the adrenal gland responds. Eleanor has also been learning bottles. She started off pretty well, initially taking bottles with understanding the general concept of suck, swallow, breathe, but she oftentimes just wants to...
1 comment
Read more

First 48

Hi friends and family of Kim, Alex, and baby Eleanor Sutara, After talking with Kim and Alex, it seemed easiest to send updates to everyone through a blog post. We are grateful and appreciative of everyone's concern, support, and well wishes as Eleanor begins her long journey in Akron Children's. Eleanor is a PPROM baby, meaning that Kim experienced a preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROM), showing little to no amniotic fluid in utero, and was subsequently hospitalized long-term for monitoring at 24 weeks following a large bleeding episode, with the hopes that the baby would be able to hang in to 34 weeks. I will let Kim elaborate if she wants on the pre-birth details, but for now I'm just slapping some hard and fast details together from what I can immediately recall. Heart monitoring of the baby beginning on Saturday, 19 January revealed some variability, and Kim was taken to the labor and delivery ward as a precaution. By Tuesday morning, Kim's doct...
3 comments
Read more